There’s Still Tomorrow Director Paola Cortellesi on Domestic Violence, Global Success, and Drawing From Italian Neorealism
After decades of celebrated performances in Italian cinema and television, Paola Cortellesi made her directorial debut with There’s Still Tomorrow, a 1940s-set post-war drama that she also co-wrote and leads. Following the matriarch of a working-class family navigating a toxic marriage and a daughter whom she doesn’t want to follow in the same footsteps, as well as romantic fantasies of a better life, the black-and-white crowdpleaser was a massive box-office sensation in Italy, where it is among the country’s 10 highest-grossing films of all-time.
Ahead of the film’s U.S. opening beginning this Friday from Greenwich Entertainment, I spoke with Cortellesi about capturing the specific tone of the film, being inspired by classic Neorealist dramas and comedies, the central mother-daughter story, and why the film has resonated specifically in her county and abroad.